I was surplussed from my AT&T job last year. I was #1 in jobs issued and in a high tech field and I was not safe. I was really happy to be surplussed since I am retirement eligible but wanted to stay a couple more years as I was in good health and I enjoyed my work quite a bit...
It seems when they came out with Vision 2020, in 2015, that they do intend to reduce their workforce of 33%. I wonder if one day soon they will reduce the severance to 3 months from the 6 months it is now. I know that many companies pay less, the case in point is IBM which pays 30 days. My daughter was laid off by IBM last year, it was not a good experience.
The stock price is not as high as they want it and the execs do seem to announce layoffs whenever they release their quarterly earnings. The price will go up if enough are laid off since contractors make only about 1/2 what they pay AT&T employees. Given this, I’d expect more contractors, more layoffs and more employees.